News

Using Hasmate for Food Safety

The Hasmate online program was designed to be used by all industries, no matter what size. Here are some specific ways the Hasmate program can be used for those in food manufacturing, and other food related businesses. Using Assets Being able to prove that all equipment and machinery used in food production is...

What’s a Spill Kit For?

"What was that noise?" asked my wife, as we enjoyed the warm Gisborne sun and waited for the kettle to boil in our motor home. The next moment, smoke was billowing out of our motor home. It was on fire! A paper towel had been blown by the wind onto the gas...

Making the most of Lost Time Injuries (LTIs) and Incidents

I once read that "from every diversity, there always arises an equal or greater opportunity for change”. An interesting quote, especially in this time of COVID-19, but how can this relate to the lost time injuries (LTIs) in business? Having any lost time injury in any business is disruptive, and can...

Business Sustainability for SMEs

This is a perplexing and challenging question for many New Zealand SME businesses in this age of COVID-19, and all the other external pressures of just making a business function effectively. To get a handle on what this means, I recently came across this article that may throw some light on...

Onsite Monitoring and Inspection Checklists

Over the past 6 months, I have been approached by a number of construction and civil engineering companies to assist them in lifting their scoring in their prequalification assessments. One of the common areas of low marking has been in the area of onsite monitoring (equipment, health, environment, etc.). Here is...

What is a Health and Safety Policy?

Some businesses have a health and safety policy for its pre-qualification certification. Others have a health and safety policy, if the business has a quality management system (ISO9001 or ISO14000 or ISO 45001) for a more qualified H&S standard. However, there is no legal requirement in the Health and Safety at Work...

Using a Software Solution for Health and Safety Management

For all New Zealand businesses, taxation, GST, ACC payments, and employment agreements are a non-negotiable responsibility of business owners. The introduction of the health and safety legislation in 2015 became a more robust, non-negotiable, no excuse compliance issue that has made many businesses think twice about ignoring it. This is now...

Primary Duty of Care – reviewing your health and safety systems

"Primary duty of care” (Section 36 of the Health and Safety at Work Act) is, in my opinion, one of the key sections that all businesses should take note of, understand its application, and apply to their businesses. Many business owners don’t know it exists, let alone understand its implications if...

COVID-19 = a duty of care by all

Recently, there was a case in Napier of an Air New Zealand traveller refusing to wear a face mask, as required by government and the airline safety rules. This raises an interesting and challenging question, as to the ability of a business to enforce the wearing of face masks for...

How often should you review health and safety documentation?

If your business has implemented a quality management system, then you will, or should, be on top of your game, as this requirement is an important part of any quality management system. When it comes to health and safety, it’s my experience that document reviews are infrequent or non-existent, as one...